


Something Good

by IreneADonovan



Series: Moments of Truth [1]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Darwin is Alive, M/M, Mansion Fic, Post-Cuba
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2021-01-27 14:53:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21394009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IreneADonovan/pseuds/IreneADonovan
Summary: Nothing good ever happens to Alex Summers. Until it does.
Relationships: Armando Muñoz/Alex Summers, Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier (background)
Series: Moments of Truth [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1542367
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24
Collections: Secret Mutant Madness 2019





	Something Good

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flightinflame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [flightinflame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame) in the [secret_mutant_madness_2019](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/secret_mutant_madness_2019) collection. 

> What was supposed to be a one-shot has become a series. Each story will stand on its own, but together they will form a larger arc.
> 
> **Prompt:**
> 
> Alex Summers knows that he doesn't get good things. Ever. Darwin's death is just another proof of that.
> 
> Until Darwin comes back, and for the first time, he has hope.

Nothing good ever happened to Alex Summers. He'd learned to accept that. His parents were gone. His brother was in foster care, g-d only knew where. He'd done time in prison. Then just when he'd dared hope he'd found something good, it was all ripped away again. The professor had been shot. Erik and Raven had abandoned them. And Darwin -- g-d, Darwin!

Alex wasn't sure he could say he'd fallen in love. What had been between them had been too new, too raw, too fiery, too all-consuming. They'd been high on adrenaline, full of bravado, getting off on the situation, the shared danger, their forbidden relationship.

Then Shaw had come, and in mere moments, Darwin had been gone. He'd reached out, reached toward Alex, just as his body was consumed by the plasma, a silent apology in sorrowful eyes. _I'm sorry I can't stay._

Alex had shouldered his grief and soldiered on, determined to see Shaw pay.

But it had all gone to shit in Cuba. Shaw had died and the war was averted, but everything else had gone wrong. The fleets had fired on them, Erik had turned the missiles back, and he and the professor had fought.

Then Moira had drawn her gun and fired at Erik, seeking to distract him into dropping the missiles into the sea. But one of the deflected bullets had gone horridly astray.

Alex could still hear the echoes of the professor's scream, an almost-inhuman keening wrenched from his throat as he fell to the sand and lay unmoving.

Erik had run to him, held him, and in that moment Alex had understood that the professor and Erik had come together as he and Darwin had. But the professor, in his shock and pain, had rejected Erik's vision, and Erik had taken it as a personal rejection and left, taking Raven with him, neither of them knowing the extent of the damage that bullet had wrought. The professor would never walk again.

The professor was home now, recovering as best he could, enduring his losses with a blend of grief, anger, and ill grace. He was distant, sullen, especially with Hank, who had taken over much of his care. (The bozo really was wicked smart, having given himself a crash course in spinal cord injuries and rehabilitation.)

But the professor remained too pale, too thin, and would barely leave his bed, so they all worried. Torn flesh and shattered bone would heal. Severed nerves would not. And who knew about a broken heart?

The weather had turned a few days before, late autumn yielding to a raw beginning-of-December mix of sleet and snow that had them all inside and irritable. Hank spent most of his free time holed up in his lab, searching for two things -- a way to reverse his recent transformation and a way to bridge the professor's severed nerves. Sean was exploring the mansion, smoking up in forgotten corners, getting testy when his stash ran low and he couldn't get to town to resupply. And Alex, he was pacing the halls, trying to release the anger building inside him before it exploded outward. He'd gained some measure of control, yes, but he was dangerously on edge, ready to release the energy that simmered inside him.

It was late afternoon, the dim stormlight already fading, the corridors of the mansion falling into deep shadow as he paced. He was deep in thought, so he was thoroughly startled when the professor nudged at his mind, seeking his attention. _Alex?_

_Yeah?_

_I need you and Sean and Hank to go to the front door. And whatever you do, stay calm._

_Sounds ominous._

_Perhaps. Perhaps not. Now go._ The professor's mental voice was gentle but firm.

Alex hurried down to the foyer and found Sean and Hank waiting. Sean looked a bit glassy-eyed, so he must have managed to get more weed.

"The professor says they're almost here," Hank said.

"Who?" Alex asked, though he had an unsettling idea of the answer.

"He didn't say. He just said they'd be here any--"

The doorbell rang, and Hank opened the door to reveal Erik and Raven and--

No. Not possible.

But it was. "Darwin?" Alex asked, voice shaking.

"Yeah, man."

Alex hurled himself forward, wrapping Darwin in a fierce embrace. "How? I saw you die."

Darwin was hugging him back, and damn but it felt good. "I adapted. It just took a while. I re-formed maybe a week after."

Alex shivered, knowing where he'd been when Darwin had been coming back to himself alone.

"Turns out suddenly appearing in the middle of a bombed-out CIA base is not a good thing, especially when you look like me. They locked me up while they tried to figure out why I was there. Erik found me when he went after Miss Frost."

"He did what?" Alex side-eyed Erik, who kept his expression carefully neutral.

Then he heard the professor in his head again. _Hank, if you'd bring Erik and Raven to me. We need to talk._

Masterpiece of understatement.

_And I think Alex and Darwin need some time alone to catch up._

Sean nodded affably and wandered off.

"Come with me," Hank said brusquely as he turned away from the door. Erik looked wary; Raven looked subdued.

Alex pulled Darwin in out of the cold, shoved the door closed with his foot, and once the others were out of sight, he asked, "Can I kiss you?"

"Hell yeah." Darwin cupped Alex's jaw in his long-fingered hands and brought their lips together, gentle and sweet. Darwin tasted as good as Alex remembered, earthy, almost spicy.

They parted only reluctantly. Darwin smiled softly, spoke quietly. "So how about you show me around this place? I'm sure there must be a spare bedroom or two."

"There's one right next to mine," Alex said huskily.

"Perfect."


End file.
